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Don't but into this nonsense about a need to send Aliir back to the twos. He's had a long lay-off from senior football to play matches against the top team in successive weeks. A big ask, and he's acquitted himself very well against quality opposition. Riewoldt was in supreme form, assisted by some exemplary service from the Richmond midfield. The backline was under serious pressure for most of the game, and Aliir quelled many an attack. To drop him now defies logic.

ĎItís very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man whoís learning to play violin.í Thatís what she told the police when she handed them the empty revolver. The Scarlatti Tilt Ė Richard Brautigan

We really missed Mills. At least he would have had the courage to stand in Riewolt's space on the 50 metres directly in front. Couldn't work out how we let that happen.

It's very difficult to close down that space 40-50 metres out from goal with the forward leading up. It was hard to blame any of our defenders in this regard.

The Swans play a spare or 2 behind the ball, which leaves that area of the ground open for opposition players to lead into. We are often exploited by smarter teams running into that space. I've been calling this out all year. We have to take a chance and play more up the ground and take the chance of getting exposed over the back. We need to close down this hole in our defensive 50 and reduce the number of inside 50s we concede.

This comes with some risk and we need a quicker defence to make this work. In fact, the slowness of our defence is hurting us in ways that don't show up in the stats, nor are that apparent watching the game. It looks as though are defence is great because we always have that extra around the goal square. The downside is that the opposition line up outside 50 waiting for the kick to come out of defence and just send the ball back in for another scoring opportunity.

This is not easily solved with Grundy, McVeigh and Smith the mainstays of our defence. Their experience is so valuable in making the defence run smoothly. So change may have to wait until the next defensive group come through, which will be a lot quicker and more capable of playing in front.

It's very difficult to close down that space 40-50 metres out from goal with the forward leading up. It was hard to blame any of our defenders in this regard.

The Swans play a spare or 2 behind the ball, which leaves that area of the ground open for opposition players to lead into. We are often exploited by smarter teams running into that space. I've been calling this out all year. We have to take a chance and play more up the ground and take the chance of getting exposed over the back. We need to close down this hole in our defensive 50 and reduce the number of inside 50s we concede.

This comes with some risk and we need a quicker defence to make this work. In fact, the slowness of our defence is hurting us in ways that don't show up in the stats, nor are that apparent watching the game. It looks as though are defence is great because we always have that extra around the goal square. The downside is that the opposition line up outside 50 waiting for the kick to come out of defence and just send the ball back in for another scoring opportunity.

This is not easily solved with Grundy, McVeigh and Smith the mainstays of our defence. Their experience is so valuable in making the defence run smoothly. So change may have to wait until the next defensive group come through, which will be a lot quicker and more capable of playing in front.

Tigers midfield very good at running forward into space. Normally we are able to apply more pressure, but their ball use was excellent on Thursday. Made us look ordinary.

Itís a tough call. Hanners is a champ and the coaching staff tell us heís fully fit. If thatís the case, itís a confidence thing which can come back very quickly with a few good touches. Punting him to Neafl is not necessarily going to help his confidence but at the end of the day, heís playing pretty poorly. Sure he got 20 plus touches but most were average at best, beneficial to Richmond at worst. Maybe one more week?

RD; he had 9 kicks and 8 went straight to a Richmond player on the full, for marks, and straight back over his head. His disposal by foot was nothing but disgraceful. He went to ground "if" he got to a contest and fumbled. How can you carry a player like that. Take out those easy turnovers and and the game changes. Plus he just didn't chase. He has lost pace. Yes he wasn't the only one but he was the biggest culprit by a country mile. If that was a fringe player he would be unmercifully dropped.

RD; he had 9 kicks and 8 went straight to a Richmond player on the full, for marks, and straight back over his head. His disposal by foot was nothing but disgraceful. He went to ground "if" he got to a contest and fumbled. How can you carry a player like that. Take out those easy turnovers and and the game changes. Plus he just didn't chase. He has lost pace. Yes he wasn't the only one but he was the biggest culprit by a country mile. If that was a fringe player he would be unmercifully dropped.

Nico, youíre most probably right. Would just love to see him hit some form again. Heís been such a great player for the last decade.

Fairer to say lucky we kicked straight ... it becomes a meaningless stat when all it discloses is that we would have been walloped if they kicked straighter. Only saw first 10 minutes and last quarter ... the latter was one beautiful start and then a totally pedestrian, error strewn farce ... we are sadly watching the demise of 2 fine players ... and they keep getting picked ... then we throw in Rose who will never make it ... and keep picking Rohan who has offered occasional pace / tackle and a couple of good goals a year amidst an abysmal possession count over a long period. Frankly it is amazing we had a chance at the start of the last quarter. Geelong next ... some changes needed. There is so much more speed in the teams playing well.

Not sure I'd describe him as an extraordinarily good kick. He is capable of some extraordinarily good kicks but is also pretty inconsistent by foot. 2012 was good from him but his ratio of good to poor kicks declined after that, and I don't think he's been particularly good by foot for most of his games for West Coast.

It was only a one-off, but he did make the best pass I have ever seen in football

Don't but into this nonsense about a need to send Aliir back to the twos. He's had a long lay-off from senior football to play matches against the top team in successive weeks. A big ask, and he's acquitted himself very well against quality opposition. Riewoldt was in supreme form, assisted by some exemplary service from the Richmond midfield. The backline was under serious pressure for most of the game, and Aliir quelled many an attack. To drop him now defies logic.

Aliirs known weaknesses were very obvious last round. He's not accountable, he's slow and can't play on a good leading forward, such as Reiwoldt. He has poor core strength and can't play body on body with the strong forwards.

In addition to this, he doesn't have the courage or endeavour to make up for these deficiencies. There were several incidents on Thursday where he was too scared to pick up the ball. We can't afford to carry back men like that.

His strength is that of a lose half back. He is a good intercept mark and is good in traffic. Unfortunately, we don't need that role most games.

He doesn't deserve to be selected but I think he will because without Melican we are desperate for a tall defender.

We need to keep picking Aliir. He has an x factor that is only seen in a few, plus he is brilliant overhead. He is also deceptively fast - don't be misled by his cadence (the rate at which he moves his legs). We need to keep him working away at his apprenticeship, including the odd chopout in the ruck.

He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)